Stefania Modafferi, Stefania Farina, Francesca Esposito, Ornella Brandi, Michela Di Salvio, Ilaria Della Valle, Sara D’Uva, Eveljn Scarian, Giada Cicio, Adelaide Riccardi, Federica Pisati, Anna Garbelli, Tiziana Santini, Orietta Pansarasa, Mariangela Morlando, Nadia D’Ambrosi, Mauro Cozzolino, Gianluca Cestra, Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna, Ubaldo Gioia, Sofia Francia
{"title":"DNA damage response defects induced by the formation of TDP-43 and mutant FUS cytoplasmic inclusions and their pharmacological rescue","authors":"Stefania Modafferi, Stefania Farina, Francesca Esposito, Ornella Brandi, Michela Di Salvio, Ilaria Della Valle, Sara D’Uva, Eveljn Scarian, Giada Cicio, Adelaide Riccardi, Federica Pisati, Anna Garbelli, Tiziana Santini, Orietta Pansarasa, Mariangela Morlando, Nadia D’Ambrosi, Mauro Cozzolino, Gianluca Cestra, Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna, Ubaldo Gioia, Sofia Francia","doi":"10.1038/s41418-025-01530-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Formation of cytoplasmic inclusions (CIs) of TDP-43 and FUS, along with DNA damage accumulation, is a hallmark of affected motor neurons in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). However, the impact of CIs on DNA damage response (DDR) and repair in this pathology remains unprobed. Here, we show that CIs of TDP-43 and FUS<sup>P525L</sup>, co-localizing with stress granules, lead to a dysfunctional DDR activation associated with physical DNA breakage. Inhibition of the activity of the DDR kinase ATM, but not of ATR, abolishes DDR signaling, indicating that DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the primary source of DDR activation. In addition, cells with TDP-43 and FUS<sup>P525L</sup> CIs exhibit reduced DNA damage-induced RNA synthesis at DSBs. We previously showed that the two endoribonucleases DROSHA and DICER, also known to interact with TDP-43 and FUS during small RNA processing, contribute to DDR signaling at DSBs. Treatment with enoxacin, which stimulates DDR and repair by boosting the enzymatic activity of DICER, restores a proficient DDR and reduces DNA damage accumulation in cultured cells with CIs and in vivo in a murine model of ALS. In <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>, Dicer-2 overexpression rescues TDP-43-mediated retinal degeneration. In summary, our results indicate that the harmful effects caused by TDP-43 and FUS CIs include genotoxic stress and that the pharmacological stimulation of the DNA damage signaling and repair counteracts it.</p>","PeriodicalId":9731,"journal":{"name":"Cell Death and Differentiation","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cell Death and Differentiation","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41418-025-01530-7","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Formation of cytoplasmic inclusions (CIs) of TDP-43 and FUS, along with DNA damage accumulation, is a hallmark of affected motor neurons in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). However, the impact of CIs on DNA damage response (DDR) and repair in this pathology remains unprobed. Here, we show that CIs of TDP-43 and FUSP525L, co-localizing with stress granules, lead to a dysfunctional DDR activation associated with physical DNA breakage. Inhibition of the activity of the DDR kinase ATM, but not of ATR, abolishes DDR signaling, indicating that DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the primary source of DDR activation. In addition, cells with TDP-43 and FUSP525L CIs exhibit reduced DNA damage-induced RNA synthesis at DSBs. We previously showed that the two endoribonucleases DROSHA and DICER, also known to interact with TDP-43 and FUS during small RNA processing, contribute to DDR signaling at DSBs. Treatment with enoxacin, which stimulates DDR and repair by boosting the enzymatic activity of DICER, restores a proficient DDR and reduces DNA damage accumulation in cultured cells with CIs and in vivo in a murine model of ALS. In Drosophila melanogaster, Dicer-2 overexpression rescues TDP-43-mediated retinal degeneration. In summary, our results indicate that the harmful effects caused by TDP-43 and FUS CIs include genotoxic stress and that the pharmacological stimulation of the DNA damage signaling and repair counteracts it.
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